


Soul Desire

by Bomberman1117



Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Creatures of Grimm (RWBY), Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/F, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-16
Updated: 2021-02-27
Packaged: 2021-03-14 12:21:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28795302
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bomberman1117/pseuds/Bomberman1117
Summary: The main cast of RWBY lives in a world where soulmates are a known entity. Everyone in Remnant has someone else's emotions in the back of their mind. Everyone can feel their partner's happiness, anger, joy, anguish, and anything else that goes through their mind. Follow Ruby, Blake, Yang, and Weiss on their journeys through a world where you never have to be alone in your own head.
Relationships: Blake Belladonna/Yang Xiao Long, Ruby Rose/Weiss Schnee
Comments: 15
Kudos: 131





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a Soulmates AU. There are many like it but this one is mine.

Blake Belladonna sat awake in her bed, staring out a porthole at the late-evening sky reflecting off the sea. The black-haired cat Faunus had never been able to sleep well. Her friends kept telling her that she’d sleep better if she didn’t drink so much tea, but her issues with insomnia had existed long before her tea habit. Even as a little girl, she always went to bed feeling like she’d just woken up from a full night’s rest. Back then, her parents had always told her it was a sign that her “soulmate” was just waking up and that, when she was older, she should travel to Vale and look for them. 

Tonight, Blake’s restlessness was hardly caused by her theoretical partner on the other side of the world or even the push and pull of the ocean moving the barge she was stowed on. Her mind was consumed with thoughts of her mission tomorrow and how uncomfortable the heels she was forced to wear would be. Blake already knew she wasn’t going to enjoy tomorrow. She joined the White Fang because she was tired of being looked down on by wealthy humans who decided their Faunus workers didn’t deserve the same courtesies just because they looked a bit different. At first, it was exciting. It felt good to protest and boycott human-owned businesses that mistreated their Faunus employees or help advocate for laws promoting Faunus equality, but some of her companions didn’t think it was enough. 

She looked down at her hands, trying hard to push away her first memory of picking up a stray rock and sending it through a shop window. Her old justification slipped past her lips, “It’s not like I was the one who started it.” But it was too late, the memories started flowing through her mind as they so often did. Stray rocks turned into bricks that they had stolen from a construction site. Bricks turned into firebombs. Then they went from storefronts to cargo shipments. Then to attacks on factories. “It’s for the good of the Faunus,” she weakly repeated to herself as she curled up in shame. It was a phrase she’d been told a million times. One that had left her lips a million more with varying levels of confidence and belief. She was doing the right thing, right? She had to be.

Blake rolled over, pulling the patchwork blanket around her over her head as she pushed those thoughts out of her mind. She tried to think about something else and arrived back at the childish idea that, somewhere, someone might actually be waiting for someone like her. “Soulmates,” she muttered to herself, “What kind of grown adult still believes in that crap?”

* * *

Ruby Rose danced through her morning routine, singing along to the music that played from the speaker in her room. She was always early to rise but today had her a little more excited than usual. It was October 31st, her birthday, and her sister and dad had both chipped in to get her a ticket to the one and only Weiss Schnee’s concert that night. It was the first time she’d ever performed in Patch and being able to see her live was all Ruby had wanted for her 19th birthday. Ruby couldn’t remember when she had started listening to Weiss but it felt like it had been her entire life.

The red-hooded girl happily remembered the first time she heard “Mirror Mirror,” it felt like she had goosebumps for weeks, although it probably didn’t help that she listened to it at least ten times a day until she accidentally dumped water on her scroll and lost everything on it. Ruby finished brushing her teeth and walked downstairs to the kitchen where her older sister, Yang, and her dad already had breakfast prepared. The blond duo had never been fond of the all-cookie birthday breakfast Ruby insisted on having every year, but it was what she wanted so they obliged, although she would have to accept slightly fewer cookies than usual because the Weiss tickets were expensive.

“You’re both the best!” she cheered as she nearly dove into the pile of cookies on the table, “Today is already one of the best birthdays ever!”  
Taiyang chuckled to himself, “You’re welcome, Ruby.”  
“Dad and I both knew how much those seeing Weiss meant to you.” her sister cut in, “Just remember that this isn’t going to be a normal concert. We’re gonna have to get dressed up and you can’t just stand up and scream along to the lyrics.”

“I know, I know.” Ruby nodded to acknowledge her sister’s words, “I’m getting it out of my system now. That’s why I’m still in my comfy clothes.” She gestured to her pajamas.

“Sure,” Yang giggled, “That’s why.” the blonds both knew that, aside from the mountain range of cookie plates on their kitchen table, this was not an unusual Saturday for Ruby. Her alarm had flip-flopped between a dozen or so of Weiss’s songs for as long as she had an alarm and the pair would often hear Ruby sing along to a whole album before actually seeing her for the day. On top of that, Ruby spent almost all weekend in her black tank top and flannel pants that were decorated with rose petals.

“Just be sure to be careful,” Taiyang half-pleaded with his daughter while scratching the back of his head, “You don’t want to mess up and get thrown out before the show even starts.”

“I’m not gonna do anything bad,” Ruby retorted, “I’ll be sure to eat all my snacks before going into the show so we don’t have to sneak anything in.”

* * *

Yang Xiao Long smiled as her little sister finish devouring the mountain of chocolate chip cookies on their kitchen table. Something in the back of her mind was telling her that this wasn’t the time to be happy -- like something serious was about to happen. The seriousness seemed to be fading though, it almost felt like she was falling asleep. Drowsiness usually took up about half her day. Most of the time she could deal with it but it gave her a lot of trouble in school, she’d always be dozing off or daydreaming. Although “dream” might be too generous a term for what she experienced on some days. A recurring star, if she could call him that, was this ominous-looking red-haired man running at her with a sword. That always made her shoot straight up in her chair. She had only seen the man in these daydreams but she couldn’t help but be terrified every time she saw someone with that hair. Yang shook the thought from her head. There wasn’t time to think about her weird fantasies today. Today was all about Ruby.

* * *

Weiss Schnee was giddy. Too giddy. She smiled at herself in the mirror of her dressing room. To be honest, she hadn’t been excited for one of her own performances since she was about 14. Something about them just stopped being fun. Maybe it was because her mother had stopped coming to them. Maybe it was because her father had insisted on tripling the price of admission for her concerts. That didn’t seem to be the case tonight, she was genuinely excited. Something about tonight seemed special, but she couldn’t figure out why.

She turned in her chair as she heard the door to her dressing room creak open, “Weiss,” her father spoke before he completely entered the room, “Are you ready for tonight?”  
The platinum blonde sighed, “Yes, Father. I just finished my vocal exercises.”  
“Good, good.” Jacques smiled or at least probably smiled. It was always hard to tell considering his absurdly large mustache covered his entire mouth, but the corners seemed to shift upwards like an old cartoon villain who just had a truly evil thought. “We’ve got a packed house tonight so I expect nothing less than a perfect performance.”

“Of course, Father.” Weiss’s earlier giddiness was quickly fading. “I will always do my best.”  
“Sometimes your best isn’t good enough, Weiss,” her father sneered, “You need to be perfect if you want to continue to impress audiences… and suitors.”

Weiss did her best to hide the fact that she was rolling her eyes. “Father, I have done everything you ask, will you please allow me to find my soulmate?”

“Weiss, there are no such things as soulmates.” Jacques chuckled to himself, “Why must I keep telling you this? It’s time you abandoned this childish fantasy. Your mother and I go out and find perfectly good young men of status and you keep turning them away because what? They didn’t ask for a cookie?”

“They are real.” Much like her father, Weiss was tired of having this argument as well, but for a different reason, “I can feel mine in the back of my head, living a happy life without the weight of my life on their shoulders.”

Jacques sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose, “We can continue this conversation later. You’re supposed to be on stage in ten minutes and I can’t have your voice being ruined by another shouting match.” Jacques walked out of the room, slamming the door behind him as Weiss turned back to her mirror. The excitement was crawling back up her spine. It was so strange, she was furious with her father. It was the same kind of fury that had filled her before countless shows before, but it felt like it had all just washed out of her. Like there was nothing that could ruin such a special day. But what was so special about today?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I started discussing this idea with some friends a few weeks ago and one of them(ManlyQuail) was kind enough to humor me with Two Souls which you should check out. It's a short read but it's really nice and I don't think I could feel good about posting this without pointing you towards their version of it.


	2. Chapter 2

Yang groaned. Her suit was better than a dress, but her tie was choking her. Worse, her feet felt like they were in a trash compactor. “It’s for Ruby,” she muttered to herself as she tried to shake the blood back into her toes. The sisters had made it to the show just a few minutes before the curtain went up. Ruby sighed as they got to their seats. Yang looked over at her, concerned, “Is something wrong, sis? Do you not like the balcony seats? I know they’re not much, but-”

“No,” Ruby interrupted, “I don’t care about where the seats are. I’m just happy I can finally see her.”

“Are you sure?” Yang asked with concern in her voice. She wanted to make sure her little sister was having the best day possible.

“Yeah,” Ruby sat in her chair and smoothed out her dress, “It just feels like there’s a pit in my stomach. Like I’m about to give some kind of big presentation...”  
Yang chuckled, “Maybe she’s about to be on stage.” If she was telling the truth, Yang felt the same way. That feeling from this morning came back, much stronger than before -- like she was about to do something she knew she’d regret. She sat down next to her sister as the lights went down.

Ruby squealed with delight, her excitement was finally visible again, which put Yang at ease. “I’m so excited for this!” Ruby was shaking in her seat, “I’ve waited my entire life to see her live!”

“I hope it’s worth the wait.” Yang smiled again, “Happy birthday, Rubes.”

Ruby reached across their shared armrest and pulled Yang into a tight hug.

Weiss’s breath boomed through the speakers as she was clearly trying to calm herself with a smile for the crowd and began to sing.

* * *

Ruby clapped excitedly, trying to fight off her unexplained anxiety as she watched the curtain rise. Then, like magic, it was gone. The speakers around the theatre projected her taking a deep breath. “Um… Yang?...”

“What is it, sis? Is everything okay?”  
“I know you were joking, but I think Weiss is my soulmate...”  
Yang laughed out loud only to be shushed by those around her, “That’s a good one, sis,” she wiped a tear from her eye, “I think it’s cute you have a celebrity crush, but Weiss Schnee definitely isn’t your soulmate.”

“I’m serious!” This time Ruby was the one who got shushed as she lightly smacked her sister’s arm. “I-I-I was so freaked out about something and then she was up in front of everyone and it just went away!”  
Yang sighed. “If you think that’s the case then I’ll try and help get you backstage once the concert is over.” The shock on Ruby’s face turned into sheer excitement. She couldn’t figure out what it was, but she was certain she was right. She didn’t know how she knew but she was certain of it. Weiss was her soulmate. It was clear and obvious, like walking up to someone and saying the sky was blue or that Yang was blonde.

The world around Ruby seemed to drown itself out. All the fidgeting of people around her and the small buzzing from the speakers on the walls faded away. It felt like she was floating. Like she was the only one in the entire theatre hall and Weiss was singing just for her. It wasn’t enough though. Ninety minutes passed like seconds for Ruby before Weiss stopped singing and Ruby floated back down into reality as she turned back to Yang, who had apparently been on her phone the whole time, “So backstage?”  
“Um… yea, sure, I guess...”

“Remember, you promised.”  
“I know, I know.” Yang gulped, not sure how she would actually manage to get Ruby backstage.

Ruby grabbed Yang by the hand and dragged her back into the entrance hall, “I think I saw a sign that said ‘employees only’ somewhere. That’s gotta be how we get backstage!”  
“Um.. yeah...” Yang was clearly nervous, “I don’t think they’re just gonna let us waltz into Weiss’s dressing room though.”  
“They have to though! I’m her soulmate!”  
“I’m pretty sure you’re not the first person to give that excuse...”  
“But I’m the first to know it’s true!” Ruby was trying to push out Yang’s negativity. She needed to tell Weiss, even if she was going to get rejected or laughed out of the room. Ruby had read stories of people spending their whole lives searching for their soulmates to no avail. She couldn’t just let this opportunity pass her by.

Ruby finally got to the door she had seen earlier, but there was a change. A tall and muscly guard was standing in front of it. For a moment, Ruby started to panic. She took a deep breath and took one step closer, knowing her big sister was right behind her to back her up. “H-Hi… My name is Ruby Rose, I need to see Weiss.”

The guard sneered. “Beat it, kid. Unless you work for the venue or your name is Schnee, you’re not getting past this door.”

“I-It’s not yet, b-but I’m Weiss’s soulmate!”

This time the guard laughed. “Ha! If I had a nickel for every fan who thought they were the talent’s soulmate, I wouldn’t need to work here. Like I said kid, get lost. Or would you rather I call for backup and have you thrown out of the building?” 

Yang sighed and mumbled something under her breath. “Ruby, step aside.”

The brunette followed her sister’s instructions and moved out of the way. Before she could really process what was going on, Yang had grabbed the security guard by his forearm and flung him over her shoulder, letting him hit the ground with a loud thump as his back made contact with the tile floor. “Ruby, go!”

Ruby didn’t hesitate. She rushed into the door where she was greeted by a long hallway filled with nearly identical doors. They were marked only by letters, not names. “How am I supposed to find her?” Ruby worried out loud. Then she caught a glimpse of a miracle. She saw a tall, thin man walking out of a room. He looked frustrated. Ruby knew from years of watching award shows and one hard-to-find documentary about the Schnees that it was Jacques, Weiss’s father. The room he came out of must have been hers. Ruby waited for him to get far enough away and then darted to the door.

* * *

Weiss let her hair down when she got back to her dressing room. As much as she liked the look of her signature ponytail, she had a tendency to make it too tight before a performance and she needed her scalp to stop screaming at her. She hummed along to Mirror Mirror, her last song of the night, as she took a fresh chocolate chip cookie from the plate by her door. The excitement from earlier was still at the front of her mind. She felt good about tonight, better than she had felt about any of her shows in years. She quickly consumed the small snack as she started to brush her silky-like white hair. Nothing could ruin tonight.

Unfortunately, Weiss’s child-like excitement made her forget her father existed. That oversight was quickly remedied by her door slamming open. “What the hell was that?” Her father said, rage more than evident in his voice.

“What are you talking about?” Weiss was confused as anxiety crept up her spine, “I thought tonight went well.”

“Is that what you thought?” He slammed the door shut behind him, causing Weiss to flinch at the loud noise. “You sang almost all of ‘This Will Be the Day’ in the wrong key!”

“I was trying something new,” Weiss mumbled weakly. She could feel herself shrink into her chair, “I thought people would like the change and they did.” She turned around in her chair to properly face her father and see the rage on his face, “It was a bit rough around the edges but I think it worked.”

“Because you didn’t rehearse it!”  
“Yes, I-” Weiss tried to counter her father but was halted by the back of his hand making contact with her right cheek.

“Don’t talk back to me!”

“Get out!” She shoved her father towards the door. “Get out of my dressing room!” Jacques grumbled and walked out of the room, slamming the door behind him. Tears welled in her eyes as she turned back to her mirror. “I did rehearse...” she mumbled to herself, “Maybe it wasn’t enough...” 

Weiss heard the door open behind her again. Sorrow turned to frustration as she turned around to face the door again, “Father, I’m not interested in-” her train of thought crashed when she found herself staring into the silver eyes of a girl who couldn’t have been much older than her in a simple red dress that looked like it was some kind of hand-me-down. She didn’t recognize this girl, but she felt starstruck like she had been waiting for this moment for her entire life. The girl sniffed the air for a moment, “Do you have cookies?”

Weiss opened her mouth but no sound came out. She was suddenly at a loss for words, so she simply pointed a slightly-shaking hand at the tray sitting next to the door. The girl turned around but quickly looked back at Weiss’s face with a look of concern. She quickly shoved a cookie in her mouth before and went back to staring at Weiss, cookie crumbs scattered around her lips, “H-Hi, I’m Ruby Rose and -- and I know this is gonna sound really weird -- I’m your soulmate. I-I can’t really explain how or why I’m so certain, but I was watching your show and I just knew.”

Weiss could only sit back in her chair in shock as she stared at the girl. It was impossible to take her eyes away. Weiss could hear her own voice, but couldn't register if she was talking or not, “You’re my soulmate?” she didn’t know why she even asked. That was the point of the test, wasn’t it? She knew her soulmate would go for the cookies without even asking for them. She felt herself smile, “I thought you’d be taller.”

“Hey! I’m still growing!” Ruby pouted, “I drink milk!”

Weiss laughed but quickly winced and rubbed her cheek, mentally scolding herself for straining the newly sore face muscles, “I guess you are my soulmate though. It always felt like there was a child in my head.”

“I’m not a child either! I just turned nineteen!”

“Well, there goes a few first date plans.”

Ruby blushed, “F-First date?...”

“Well, yeah. If we’re soulmates then we should go out sometime, right?”

Ruby’s brain short-circuited. She just stood in front of Weiss, dead silent. Somehow, it hadn’t occurred to her that Weiss being her soulmate meant that she actually got to go out on dates with her celebrity crush. Ruby quickly shook her head, trying to recover any semblance of thought she had left after having been told she was going on a date with the Weiss Schnee. She spurted out the first sentence that came to mind, “U-Um… what happened to your cheek?...” concern was clear in her voice, “I-It was kind of hard to really see you from the upper balcony but I didn’t notice that bruise during your show...”  
Weiss turned her head, trying to hide the mark, “It’s nothing… I got a little overexcited and ran into a coat rack after the show…”

* * *

Blake groaned as she scanned the room for a seat. It was bad enough she was wearing a dress but her heels were a nightmare. “Why couldn’t I just wear flats tonight? It’s impossible to be effective if I can barely stand.”

Her partner, Adam Taurus, adjusted his large-lense sunglasses as he whispered in her ear, “I’m not the one who gets to choose your outfits, Blake,”

“Then who is?” It was easy to hear the annoyance in her voice, “Sienna and Ilia would never stick me in these demon shoes. That means it was either you or the twins.”  
“Then I guess it was the twins.”

Blake rolled her eyes. It wasn’t hard to tell that Adam was lying but what could she do about it? “Time?”

“Five minutes.”

“And we’re certain the targets are gonna be in position?”

“It’s been the pattern for the last month. They come, she sings, twenty minutes later, they leave out the front with minimal security so people can get some photos.

For the first time in a while, Blake felt uncertain about tonight. “What if they’re busy? Or if there’s more security than usual?”

“Why would they break the pattern now?”

“I don’t know… I just have a bad feeling about it…”

The dark-clothed duo stood near the exit as time passed like molasses. Blake couldn’t help but worry, especially after a blonde woman threw a guard over her shoulder before getting swarmed by security and dragged out of the lobby. That got Blake’s blood boiling. She had been dragged out of at least a dozen places that were worse than this hall just because of the cat ears atop her head. “You know,” she whispered, “If I weren’t wearing this bow, or you weren’t wearing that dumb hat, we’d’ve been turned away at the door tonight.” The security door finally opened, but something was already wrong. Weiss wasn’t there.

Adam grunted, “Where is she?”

“I told you something felt off.” Blake sighed, she couldn’t quite tell if it was relief or frustration though, “The mission’s a wash, let’s go.” Blake started to walk out, but quickly found Adam’s hand around her forearm.

“No. You can still grab Jacques.”

Blake hesitated for a moment, “Just me?...”

“Yes. You were supposed to grab him on your own anyway.”  
“But now there’s more security for me to deal with...”

Adam smirked, “Then this is a chance for you to prove yourself.”  
The cat ears under Blake’s bow flexed with anxiety, “Fine...” she said, slipping out of her heels before walking towards the group of guards. She stopped a few feet in front of them before taking a deep breath. She charged the small group of guards, knocking several to the ground as she grabbed Jacques. She started dragging him out the front door, but it was too late. In the time it took for her to get from where Jacques was to out the door, a dozen guards had come out of the woodwork to try and stop her. She had no choice but to let the mustached Schnee go so she could slip through the line of armed muscle. She looked around only to see the getaway car she and Adam were meant to escape in screaming out of the parking lot. “Shit,” she mumbled to herself as she looked around and saw a black and yellow motorcycle.

Without thinking, Blake ran for it, pulling up her dress so she could throw her leg over the vehicle. Blake frantically looked for the keys, getting lucky and finding them loosely taped to the underside of the seat. Running on pure instinct, she quickly shoved the keys in the ignition and rode off into the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This might be the first thing I've ever had the motivation to write a chapter two for. Hopefully, I can get this to be a once a week thing until I run out of ideas.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yang watches her motorcycle get stolen. Blake wakes up in an alley. Ruby tries to enjoy her Saturday. Weiss thinks about how her family is going to react when she introduces them to Ruby.

Yang was standing outside the theatre with her helmet under her arm and her phone in her hand. Unsurprisingly, throwing a security guard over her shoulder got her thrown out, but it looked like Ruby made it through the door so it seemed to work out. Even better, Ruby hadn’t been thrown out yet, so she must’ve actually gotten to Weiss and done something to prove they were soulmates. She was still nervous. What was she nervous about? Yang felt herself take a deep breath in hopes it would calm her. She just stared at her phone, hoping to get some kind of text or call from Ruby. She finally bit the bullet and sent her little sister a short text: “Hey, how did it go?” Then the blonde waited.

Eventually, Yang saw that Ruby was typing and perked up, but her attention was quickly drawn to the door as a pale woman in a black dress ran out of the building. Yang didn’t think anything of it until she noticed where the woman was headed: Bumblebee -- her motorcycle that she and Ruby had ridden on to get there. “Hey!” she shouted, hoping to get her attention, “What do you think you’re doing?!”

Yang didn’t think the woman in black heard her since she didn’t seem to notice. Yang tried to run towards her but was quickly stopped by a guard. “She’s stealing my bike!”

The man answered in a dry and stern voice, “Mr. Schnee’s security force is dealing with it.”

“Yeah, you’re dealing with it really well!” Yang scoffed, “She’s getting away!” She pointed at her screeching motorcycle leaving the parking lot. Yang sighed, “Damnit, now I’m probably gonna have to replace the tires when I get her back...”

Yang heard a buzz from her phone. She looked down to see a picture of Ruby hugging an incredibly familiar white-haired girl. The blonde smiled, “At least something good happened tonight.”

Blake stared up at the stars. She had found a second-hand store and managed to ditch her dress for a sweater, jeans, and a beanie as a small finishing touch to cover up her cat ears. She slouched onto the ground next to the stolen motorcycle. She tried ditching it once she felt comfortably far away from the theatre, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. “I might need to get away quickly again,” she told herself. She kept trying to justify why she needed to keep it around but she couldn’t deny the real reason for very long: she felt a connection to the bike. Like it had been waiting for her whole life. Blake had done quite a bit of work as a mechanic for the white fang. It was something she’d gotten into when she was not quite ten. She remembered staring at cars and airships as they went by, something in the back of her mind compelling her to find out how they worked and how to make them better. Maybe her soulmate was a mechanic?

The cat faunus shook the idea from her mind. She thought she knew better than that. This motorcycle hadn’t been waiting for her, it was just the first thing that caught her eye -- it was bright yellow, why wouldn’t it? She got lucky and found where the owner hid the keys, nothing more. She mumbled to herself, “Why can’t I get rid of you?...” despite laying against a concrete building in a dirty alley, Blake’s countless nights on less-comfortable surfaces made it easy for her to drift off to sleep without really thinking about it. It felt strange. She’d never been able to get to sleep this quickly before.

* * *

Blake woke up to the sound of boots on gravel. She darted to her feet and took up a defensive stance but the morning light shining in her eyes made it difficult to see. A playful voice came from a silhouette in front of her “Easy there, Alley Cat.” Blake let her guard down for just a moment so she could rub her eyes. When her vision came back into focus, it felt like her heart had skipped a beat. Standing in front of her was a blonde woman, a gorgeous blonde woman in a flannel shirt and leather jacket with messy hair that made it look like she had just rolled out of bed. The words rang in her ears for a moment. Alley Cat. Why would she call her an alley cat? Blake frantically reached for her stolen beanie from the night before only to find that it wasn’t atop her head. “Shit,” her eyes scurried over the ground, trying to find the black accessory among the garbage and dirt she had previously been sleeping in.

“Are you okay?” The voice shifted from playful to concerned.

“I’m fine!” Blake shot back, finally finding the hat and placing it over her ears again, “It’s just cold. I don’t want my ears freezing off.”

The blonde chuckled, “It’s not that cold out. It’s not even freezing either.”

“Maybe for you,” The cat faunus was getting frustrated now, “But it might as well be Atlas for me.”

“Well, Atlas or not, I’m gonna be taking that bike.” The blonde took a step closer to Blake, eyeing up the machine just behind Blake.

Blake stepped between the stranger and the stolen vehicle, “Are you gonna try and steal it from me?”  
“I shouldn’t really have to.” The stranger sidestepped Blake and looked the machine over as if going over some kind of mental checklist.  
Blake turned to keep an eye on the blonde woman, “You think I’m gonna hand it over to you?”

“I certainly hope so.” Yang let out a small laugh, “It’s my bike.”  
“How do you know it’s not mine?”

“So your name is Yang?” she quirked an eyebrow at the cat faunus, “Because the keys say ‘If lost, return to Yang Xiao Long’ on the keychain.”

“Yes. Yes, it is.” Blake didn’t know why she was so defensive. This wasn’t her motorcycle, she didn’t care what happened to it. So why was she trying to keep it?

The blonde chuckled as she reached for her jacket pocket, “Nice to meet you, Yang.” She pulled out her license and showed it to Blake, “I’m Yang.”

Blake blushed and looked away from the piece of laminated plastic. “I’m Blake...”

Yang smiled, “Nice to meet you, Blake. Would you mind letting me walk away with my bike? It looks like you took good care of her overnight but I usually keep her in a garage so a night out in the cold and dirt means I’m gonna have to clean her up.”

Blake tried to ignore the grumbling in her stomach, still choosing to avoid Yang’s gaze, “Y-yeah...”

“Thanks. Now that that’s out of the way, do you want to get breakfast?”

* * *

Ruby woke up from the best sleep of her life with a relaxed stretch. She had gone with Weiss to her hotel last night. She smiled as she accidentally bumped her head against Weiss’s. Memories of the previous night slowly crawled back to the front of her thoughts. Her head had started spinning when Weiss had said they needed to go out. From there, they were taken out the back door of the building where they got in a limo and sang all of Weiss’s top hits together. She was a bit embarrassed that she wasn’t as good as Weiss but the platinum blonde insisted that it didn’t matter. When they got back to Weiss’s hotel room, Ruby had quickly ripped the comforter off of the bed before wrapping herself and Weiss in the oversized blanket on the couch.

Ruby yawned as her eyes came back into focus on the massive TV in front of her. It was running the morning news, she didn’t hear much of it and elected to ignore the rest as she searched for the remote. It was Saturday, which meant she was going to watch cartoons. Her eyes finally found the remote in Weiss’s left hand. Unfortunately, Ruby was on Weiss’s right side. The short brunette did her best to reach for the remote. The sleeping Weiss seemed to sense Ruby’s desire for the remote. That combined with the newfound lack of tension in the blanket around her caused the singer to fall onto her side, inadvertently dragging her soulmate with her. 

The brunette rolled off of Weiss and accidentally ended up landing on the floor. She stood up and slowly and found that Weiss was holding the remote like it was a stuffed animal. Ruby smiled. Before last night, she had never imagined getting to have an actual sleepover with Weiss Schnee. She would have been happy enough to get an autograph after the show, but now she has a soulmate -- someone she can spend the rest of her life with. The brunette was getting light-headed just thinking about it. She would get to travel the world with her idol and her girlfriend because they were the same person! Ruby couldn’t help but squeal at the thought before quickly covering her mouth so as to not wake her sleeping partner. Well, she couldn’t get her Saturday morning cartoons. She looked around the room to see if she had what she needed to partake in her other Saturday morning traditions.

* * *

In contrast to her soulmate’s sleep, Weiss was restless. Ruby had passed out almost immediately once they had gotten back to her room. She was so cute when she was sleeping, making all kinds of happy noises from whatever pleasant dream she was having. It was a soothing sound, but it still took Weiss nearly an hour to actually drift into her uneasy sleep. Weiss didn’t have the heart to tell her father that she had met her soulmate that night. She didn’t want to think about how he would react to her partner being a “commoner” as he would have put it. She was lucky Ruby was actually an adult as well. If they had met when Weiss was Ruby’s age he’d probably go off about how they were both children and that neither of them really knew what was going on. Her dreams were filled with the various outcomes of her telling her family about the brunette asleep on her shoulder. 

Her mother, Willow, would probably smile and congratulate her before going back to her expensive wine. The Schnee matriarch had spoken of soulmates many times with her daughters when they were younger. Weiss remembered asking her several times about whether or not Jacques was her soulmate and she would always smile and nod, never quite saying yes. At first, Weiss had believed her but it didn’t take long to recognize how forced the smile was once Weiss had to start practicing hers in the mirror.

Winter would probably smile but roll her eyes when she turned away. Weiss’s older sister was never too keen on the idea of soulmates. She would swear that she never felt anything through the link but the normally stoic eldest Schnee child was prone to outbursts when it came to her father, or anyone for that matter, talking poorly about Mantle. She would always swear that she was just concerned for the citizens under Atlas’s protection but she barely blinked whenever Weiss talked about how much she hated the high society in Atlas.

Whitley would probably just frown and walk away. She could never get a read on her little brother but it seemed clear that he wanted nothing to do with her. They were close as kids but her little brother just stopped talking to her. She never understood why he stopped talking to her and he only ever frowned and ignored her when she brought it up. 

Her father was who she was most worried about. She’d brought up the idea of finding her soulmate, he would scold her and tell her to go practice her scales. She had even suggested making a spectacle out of it. They could have gone around remnant and have people pay to come and try and prove they were her soulmate. It worked for a few weeks, but her father quickly grew frustrated with the lack of results. Their nights traveling on the family’s airship turned into screaming matches about whether or not “true love” was worth wasting so much time and money. Her nights without Ruby were likely going to turn into similar screaming matches about how she didn’t actually know what love was.

It was a topic that came up a number of times in Weiss’s previous hunts for romance. “You’re too young,” her father always argued when she was younger, “What if you were kidnapped by some stranger and his family?” When she had finally gotten older, the warnings shifted from nefarious to a feigned attempt at care. “You need to rehearse for your performances, I’m sure the boy can wait.” Jacques would always say. Her father’s theoretical suitors and nareduels were always men, never some nebulous “they”. Weiss had briefly considered countering her father’s less than subtle homophobia with the indisputable fact that there were countless examples of same-sex pairs of soulmates but even such a small act of rebellion left a faint and preemptive stinging sensation on the skin of her cheek. Weiss could only imagine the steam coming out of her father’s ears when he inevitably met Ruby.

Suddenly, a strange scent filled Weiss’s nose and caused her eyes to flutter open before she sat up on an empty couch. She looked around to find Ruby, still in her dress from last night, standing over the stovetop in the kitchenette of her suite. “What is that?” Weiss’s senses were hazy. The smell was sweet but still not identifiable. She briefly recognized the tune of “This Will be the Day” playing from somewhere but her vision was blurry and couldn’t quite see the earbuds sticking out from underneath her soulmate’s hair. Ruby didn’t seem to notice her.

Weiss rolled off of the couch, landing onto her feet with a light thud. “Ruby?” she tried to get the brunette’s attention but her rapidly returning senses told her that the muffled music was coming from her soulmate. She walked up behind Ruby and wrapped her hands around the taller girl’s waist. She jumped as she let out a small yelp before pausing her music. “O-oh, good morning, Wei-um, Miss Schnee?”

Weiss giggled as she tightened the hug she had pulled Ruby into, “Good morning, Miss Rose,” she teased, “Weiss is fine. Soulmates should be on a first-name basis. Miss Schnee is what servants call me.”

An embarrassed smile grew on Ruby’s face while a blush crept into her cheeks, “O-okay.”

“What are you making?”

“Um… I usually make cookies on Saturday mornings while I watch cartoons… but there wasn’t a whole lot of stuff and they didn’t have anything ready in the kitchen so I borrowed the ingredients for chocolate chip pancakes.”

“We could just order pancakes from the room service menu.”

“It’s not the same,” Ruby’s smile faded, “It’s my mom’s recipe...”

“Oh...” Weiss’s tight grip around Ruby loosened, “That’s sweet… My mother isn’t exactly the cooking type...” The platinum blonde tried to shake away the intruding thoughts of her mother, “What about the cartoons?”

“You were pretty cozy with the remote when I woke up.” Ruby placed the most recent pancake from the pan in front of her to a small stack sitting on a place next to her, “So I thought I’d listen to some music. I didn’t get the Wi-Fi password though, and your live album from Haven was the only thing I had downloaded to my phone.” Ruby turned off the stove and turned to Weiss with the plate now in her hands, “I hope you don’t mind sharing. They didn’t have a lot of chocolate chips.”

Weiss’s smile widened, “So long as I’m with you, anything is fine.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I know I said I wanted this to be weekly. Unfortunately, classes got to be a bit much and one of my assignments took me five days. Here's hoping it doesn't take me three weeks to get the next chapter out!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Blake and Yang get breakfast. Weiss and Ruby go shopping.

Blake could barely breathe. What was wrong with her? Twelve hours ago, she was getting ready to abduct two of the most high-profile people in all of Remnant and now she was stumbling over her words trying to talk to some random girl. 

“Hello?”

Blake blinked herself back to reality, “Huh? What?”

Yang giggled, “You’ve just been staring at me for five minutes. Are you gonna say something or am I really that beautiful?”

Blake blushed and averted her golden eyes from the lilac staring back at her, “H-How did you find the motorcycle?”

“Not answering, eh?” She sat back in her chair, “I have a GPS tracker on Bumblebee. I hadn’t needed to use it before but it seems to have come in handy, right?”

Blake nodded as a young man walked up to their table. “Are we ready to order?” He chirped. Blake tried not to let him see her eyes roll at his cheery demeanor. She hadn’t been able to check the time but the sun made it seem to be around midday. It was still too early to be that happy about anything, especially without her morning tea. She nodded and opened her mouth but Yang cut her off. “Can we get the hashbrowns and blueberry pancakes for two?” She glanced at Blake, “And two cups of the lapsang souchong tea please?”

Blake’s ears twitched under her knit hat as her eyes widened. Did she hear that right? She frantically examined the menu she had only briefly skimmed before. It wasn’t there. She looked up at Yang, “That’s not on the menu.” The waiter smiled, taking their menus before walking off.

The blonde nodded. “They special order it from this grower in Menagerie so it’s a bit pricey. They don’t exactly advertise it. I used to date one of the workers here and he got me hooked on the stuff.”

Golden eyes locked with lilac once again, “Amitola Tea Company?”

It was the blonde’s turn to be surprised, “How did you-”

“I’m from Menagerie. Ilia Amitola is one of my best friends.”

“Really?” Yang leaned forward in her chair, “That’s kinda cool. I bet you get great deals.”

“Not really...” Blake looked down at the table, “She had to sell the company after her parents died a few years ago… It got bought up by a big conglomerate in Mistral but they didn’t change the name. Every now and then she manages to get some small stuff but she’s been on her own for so long...” Yang could see Blake’s hidden cat ears flatten against the top of her head.

Blake sighed, “She stayed with me for a while but things… got complicated...”

Yang echoed her last word, “Complicated?”

“She kept trying to talk me into being more than just friends.” Blake’s frown tried to force itself into a smile when their tea arrived, “I kept trying to avoid answering her or brushing off the question… I knew I’d have to give her a straightforward response eventually but I didn’t want to commit to anything.” Blake took a sip of her tea, hoping the familiar taste would calm her nerves. Why was she even opening up to Yang? She was a complete stranger and she was telling stories she hadn’t even told her parents. “Eventually, I lied and told her I was holding out for my soulmate.”

Yang was intrigued but only parroted Blake’s words back to her, “You lied?”

Blake sighed as she stared at her reflection in the tea, “Faunus don’t usually believe in soulmates. Almost all of us live in Menagerie -- if you can’t find your soulmate when almost your entire population lives in one place it tends to dishearten people...”

“Your soulmate doesn’t have to be a faunus though, right?”

“No, but it doesn’t change the fact that most people don’t find their soulmate anyway.”

“I guess...” Yang watched as the pancakes she ordered were set between the two, “It still feels mean to lie to her like that. How do you know she wasn’t the one?”

Blake shook her head, “Like I said, I lived with her for a while. We both knew how the bond was supposed to work and a lot of things didn’t line up like they should.”

The blonde tried to give her a reassuring smile, “I know the feeling.”

“Eventually she moved out and I thought I had found my soulmate.”

Yang was back to parroting the cat faunus, “You thought?”

“Yeah… he was really nice and tried to take care of me...”

“I can sense a ‘but’ coming.”

“But,” Blake looked up at Yang, “He recently proved he didn’t care about me the way I cared about him… and we didn’t have the connection I thought we did.”

* * *

Ruby was awestruck. She had finished her morning cartoons and Weiss helped her with the pancakes. Now the duo was in the middle of a shopping mall, surrounded by racks and isles of clothes.

“We could have just gone back to my house.” Ruby pouted, “I have clothes there.” The brunette had never been fond of shopping, especially for clothes. What was the point of buying new clothes when the old ones fit just fine?

Weiss could only shake her head, “You’re going to be swarmed by reporters and paparazzi soon, you need some nice outfits or else they’ll talk about how bad you look.” She wasn't entirely lying. Rumors had already started to spread that Weiss had been seen with some random girl after her performance last night, but the platinum blonde didn’t care how the media viewed Ruby. She was more concerned about her father. Jacques Schnee was ruthless when it came to Weiss’s social life. She was only allowed to talk with people from other wealthy families. He insisted on learning everything there was to know about her friends. He had SDC workers produce a report about their family, what they did, where their money came from, whether or not they were friendly to faunus, everything. 

His biggest test, however, was their outfit when he met them for the first time. Weiss once saw him turn away one of her friends because her socks were uneven. “It’s a sign of socio-economic inferiority,” he said, “Schnees shouldn’t associate with people who don’t have the desire to look presentable.”

The singer flinched at the memory. Ruby was cute, there was no doubt about that, but her clothes were simple and Weiss had no doubt that the clothes in her soulmate’s closet at home were just as cute, but they were also probably a T-Shirt and ripped jeans. Weiss couldn’t help but blush at the image in her head, but she knew her father wouldn’t approve of such an outfit. Ruby whined as she looked around, “All of this looks so uncomfortable… and expensive...”

“You get used to it,” Weiss hugged her concerned soulmate, “You need seven new outfits. Don’t worry about the price. I’ll pay for anything you want.”

“Are you sure?...” Ruby’s concern only grew, “I don’t want you to spend all that money on me...”

“It’s nothing.” Weiss smiled as she pulled Ruby close, “I thought such a big fan would know that money is no object for the famous Weiss Schnee.”

That got Ruby to blush. “I-I know you’re not that worried about it but I still feel bad about making you spend this much money.” She glanced at a nice vest before shaking her head when her eyes moved over the pricetag.

Weiss rolled her eyes and grabbed the vest, not even bothering to look at the small slip of paper that gave Ruby such unease. She stammered as she tried to keep Weiss from doting on her, “B-but Weiss-”

Weiss’s arms cross over her chest, “You like it don’t you?”

“W-well, yes, bu-”

Weiss cut Ruby off with a finger against her lips, “Then you’re trying it on. I don’t want to hear any worries. It’s our first date and what kind of soulmate would I be if I didn’t treat my partner?” Ruby’s blush deepened and Weiss pressed up against her with a smile spreading across her face, “And don’t tell me you don’t like my attention. I know you’re loving it.” Ruby tried to avert her gaze but she suddenly felt like she was back in the theatre from last night. Like her and Weiss were the only people on Remnant. The platinum blonde let her hand slide from Ruby’s lips to her chin, gently trying to pull it down closer to her.

Much to Weiss’s dismay, Ruby had to wear her clothes from the night before -- clothes that she had also slept in. Meanwhile, Weiss was in her more casual clothes. The brunette assumed that Weiss’s flats cost more than her phone, but that didn’t mean they weren’t flats, leaving Ruby nearly two inches taller than her. Despite the height difference, Weiss stood on her toes to close the space between their lips to share a chaste kiss with Ruby before stepping back and examining the clothes around them.

Ruby was left in a haze of excitement and confusion, unable to truly determine whether or not she was dreaming. Did that really just happen to her? Weiss Schnee -- The Weiss Schnee, had just kissed her. Her mind was racing. How was she this lucky? A day ago she was losing her mind at the idea of just getting to see the woman and now she had just given her first kiss to her. Everything felt surreal. Then it felt like she was falling. Then she briefly heard herself hit the floor before her vision went black.

* * *

Yang watched the cat faunus across from her intently. Blake had opened up to her about everything. Her ex, Adam, had recently abandoned her in town so she was stuck on Patch with no money, no spare clothes, and nowhere to stay. The blonde had insisted that Blake stay with her until she could get enough money to leave. Blake did her best to refuse, “I don’t want to intrude on your home.”

“You wouldn’t be intruding,” Yang pushed back, “I’m inviting you. My sister is gonna be out of the house for a while -- she just found out that her soulmate was Weiss Schnee.”

Blake’s eyes narrowed, “Weiss Schnee?”

“Yeah,” Yang nodded, “She’s this Atlesian singer-”

“I know who she is.” Blake looked frantically at Yang.

The blonde could feel a faint trace of panic creeping into her mind, “Ruby was a huge fan. It was her birthday last night and all she wanted was to see Weiss live since she was in town.” She tried to laugh away the new emotions pushing their way to the front of her thoughts, “What are the odds someone’s favorite artist does a concert on your birthday, right? It was all she talked about for months.”

“Adam and I were in town to see the show as well...” Blake’s eyes lowered once more as Yang felt a wave of guilt settle in her stomach. What was wrong with her today? What did she have to feel guilty about?

“Anyway,” Yang did her best to push away the foreign emotions starting to fill her brain, “You’re more than welcome to crash at my place until you can get back on your feet. I’m sure my dad wouldn’t mind an extra set of hands around the house while Ruby is gone.”

Blake sighed, but Yang could see the cat ears under her hat perk up, “You’re not gonna stop offering until I say yes, are you?”

A cocky smile grew on the blonde’s face, “Yep.”

“Then I guess I have no choice but to accept.” Blake rolled her eyes as any stress she was carrying seemed to wash away, “Now are we going to eat? Our pancakes are getting cold.”

The pair quickly divided the stack of flapjacks. Yang watched in silence as Blake devoured her share. It wasn’t an awkward or unsettling silence though. It was the kind of silence people spend years trying to find -- a calming, tranquil, silence. The kind of silence that lingers in the air after you finish a movie while cuddled out against someone special. It was foreign to both of the women sitting at the table, but certainly not unwelcome.

Blake eventually broke the silence, speaking before she had actually finished swallowing the last bite of her morning meal. “You said your dad would appreciate the extra pair of hands?”

Yang nodded, “We live in the middle of a forest so there are a few chores that need to get done. Stuff like hunting, gathering firewood, cooking every now and then.”

Blake shrugged, “That doesn’t sound too difficult.”

“It isn’t but it’s a pain with just the two of us while Ruby’s gone.”

It was Blake’s turn to mimic the girl across from her, “Just the two of you?”

“Yeah,” Yang’s smile slipped off of her face and the happiness in her eyes faded away, “My mom went missing when Ruby and I were little and we never found her… Our dad didn’t take it too well. His soulmate just up and vanished.”

* * *

Weiss turned on her heels when she heard the thud behind her. Her mind began racing. “Ruby?!” The adorably innocent brunette was passed out on the ground. Weiss rushed over to her soulmate and carefully flipped her onto her back. Her breathing was steady. “Thank the gods.” Weiss let out a relieved breath before she went digging through her purse, “Where is it? Where is it?” She pulled a blue vial and a rag out of her purse. The ice dust in the rag would be cold enough to bring Ruby’s fever down. A Schnee was nothing if not prepared.

Weiss placed the makeshift ice pack on Ruby’s forehead. She looked around, hoping no one was around to stir up a media frenzy. Once she was certain Ruby was fine, Weiss went back to examining the red vest her soulmate had picked out. She didn’t know a lot about Ruby’s fashion sense, but her dress from the night before and the vest she had picked out showed she had a certain fondness for the color red.

The platinum blonde smiled as she looked around the small area. She wanted to make sure Ruby was safe but she also wanted to make sure Ruby was safe without altering anyone that could call the press. The last thing Weiss needed today was the world finding out about her soulmate before her father. “Let’s see,” Weiss was thinking out loud now, “She needs a new dress but those are on the other side of the store.” She began to twirl a strand of hair from her ponytail around her fingers. “We can worry about that later. Right now she needs something casual. Father wouldn’t approve of jeans but she could use a nice skirt and definitely some boots if she’s gonna be in Atlas at all. The shoes are upstairs though. Those will also have to wait until she’s awake...” The Schnee heiress grabbed a white button up to go with the jacket and smiled, “I bet this would look good with the SDC logo stitched into the shirt pocket.” Weiss picked out a few more things for Ruby before returning to sit next to her. 

Weiss slowly thought about all the ways she could dress Ruby up and show her off to the world. “She’s all mine.” Weiss thought to herself, but she quickly tried to shake that idea from her mind. That wasn’t fair. Ruby had a family and friends. She should be allowed to live her life the way she wanted. Weiss sighed, “That’s not going to happen though… As long as she’s with me, she’ll just keep getting swarmed by paparazzi and fans. She’ll forever be seen as The Soulmate of Weiss Schnee.”

Ruby began to stir, “Huh? Weiss? Who are you talking to?”

Weiss smiled again. It hadn’t been more than a few minutes but she already missed Ruby’s voice, “Just thinking out loud. Are you feeling okay? You had me worried.”

“Yeah, I think so.” Ruby removed the rag on her forehead, “Just got a bit over-excited I guess. I’m still getting used to the fact that my soulmate is also my all-time favorite singer.”

Weiss blushed as she helped Ruby sit up on the ground, “I’m glad you’re okay. Although I am sorry that I didn’t get you to an infirmary or anything. This place is pretty empty, but if I caused a scene a lot of reporters and photographers would come out of the woodwork.” She hugged her soulmate, “I don’t want you to get more overwhelmed by all the sudden attention.”

Ruby smiled as she returned the hug, “Thank you, Weiss. I’m sorry if this is such an inconvenience.”

“Gods, no!” Weiss pushed away so she could stare directly into Ruby’s shining silver eyes, “You couldn’t ever inconvenience me! You’re my soulmate and you’re amazing!” Ruby still looked concerned, and Weiss could feel the lingering worry in the brunette’s mind. Weiss closed the gap between them again. The anxiety meandering into her mind through her bond with Ruby vanished as their lips met for the second time. Weiss heard her phone buzz before the familiar sound of a camera shutter.


End file.
